sorry but i've never once said Italy was my home country...but then again i don't go around calling myself an Italian-American like blacks routinely call themselves African-Americans so I think THAT is what you were getting at (but obviously needed assistance)
it's much more common for a black person to use the hyphenated-American phrase than anybody else...for what reason? i have no idea....it just is. but to say it's common for people that are US born and bred and probably never been back to their "homeland" to say that their home country is anything but the USA is absolutely untrue. It happens, of course, but it's far from common
I've seen Jersey Shore. They call Italy their home all the time.